This revealing presentation examines some of the negative stereotypes that people have about religion and how Judaism suffers by association. The issues addressed include today’s preference for spirituality over religion, the sentiment that religion is a “crutch for those who need it” and the contention that religions divide people, thereby causing strife in the world.

Rabbi Michael Skobac takes you on a fascinating exploration of how a small Messianic movement within Judaism, 2,000 years ago, transformed into a radically non-Jewish world religion. In this lecture, you will learn about the Jewish roots of Christianity, how those roots became obscured over the course of time and what surprising developments may lie ahead.

The techniques of influence and persuasion employed by advertisers, salespeople and lawyers are known to be extremely powerful. Cult and mind control groups use these same tactics in manipulative ways to both recruit people into their organizations and secure their loyalty and compliance. This lively and interactive presentation demonstrates the basic dynamics of influence methods and helps lessen our vulnerability to their widespread use in our culture.

This program shows how Christians approach our Bible with a preconceived agenda and ultimately see what’s not there and don’t see what is there. This convoluted approach leads them to quote passages out-of- context so they can inject their beliefs into our Jewish Bible. The result… a dramatic misreading and distortion of our Holy Scriptures.

Seeking inner peace has become a multi-million dollar industry today. However, what is inner peace? According to Judaism, it is not the elimination of stress and conflict from our lives. This provocative lecture will clarify how Judaism understands this timely issue and provides practical approaches to achieving a life of true inner peace.

While there is widespread interest in the practice of meditation, there is an equally widespread misconception that we must go outside of Judaism to find any guidance. This program provides an introduction to Jewish wisdom dealing with the nature and importance of meditative practice. We examine the cultivation of Kavanah (mindful awareness) as well as discussing the history of Jewish meditation and its different varieties.